about
An overwhelming excess of possibilities is a common challenge in our information-saturated age, where the sheer abundance of choices can lead to paralysis rather than freedom. Instead of seeking to channel this excess, I choose to embrace the complexity, allowing my work to develop organically in response to the multitude of questions and challenges I encounter as they occur, so that the act of making is not just a means to an end but a continuation of my analytical journey—an unbounded opportunity to think deeply through research and experimentation.
I deliberately move away from traditional notions of art as a vehicle for personal expression, social utility, or market-driven outcomes. The work becomes an intrinsic manifestation of enquiry, where the process of exploration is more essential than any finished piece.
By staying attuned to the ever-shifting landscape of possibilities, I hope to reveal something that resonates with the complexities of individual and shared experience and fosters a deeper connection to the world around us.
I have a special interest in a life lived with technology and work collaboratively with my partner devices under the banner – “partner not prosthesis”.
selection of general interests, materials & methods:
algorithms, art history, autobiography, botany, code, collaboration, counter-culture, cultural theory, digital/faux ecologies, ethics of technology, feminism, human/machine partnerships, learning, literature, mathematics, memory, paradigms, pattern, philosophy, popular culture, psychology, technology, the creative process, working class culture, 1950 – 1979
drawing, writing, research, animation, blogging, collage, documenting, electronics, installation, machine drawing, machine generated image and text, painting, physical computing, programming, sound, textiles, video, whatever the work requires
Platform artist at Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK
Recipient of The Freelands Foundation Artists Programme
Satellite of /ORIGIN\FORWARD/SLASH\
Studio holder at Yorkshire Artspace
Exhibitions, Residencies, Projects
2024
Re-embroidering Blackwork – The Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution, London
August 2024
Studio based practice – Yorkshire Artspace Studios, Sheffield
A year devoted to comprehensively revising and evolving my practice, prioritizing the development of work over the pursuit of external opportunities.
2023
Re-embroidering Blackwork – Bloc Projects, Sheffield
December 2023
FIRST HAND at Flat Time House, London
29 September – 5 November 2023 Download a PDF of the show
Definitions of Drawing II – Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds
August – September
Curated by Court Spencer
The prism of the feminine:
machines, oocytes, wires, potions
Curated by Joana Neves in partnership with Frac Picardie
Drawing Now Art Fair, Carreau du Temple, Paris
In the Same Breath – Freelands Foundation, London
March – May
INTERFACE: Art/Technology/Collaboration – Site Gallery, Sheffield
2022
Intergraphia Series 1
networm()moving_data (through the so[u,i]l) – Publication by Intergraphia Books
PLATFORM 21 – Soft Loop – Site Gallery, Sheffield
February – March 2022
2021
Platform Residency at Site Gallery, Sheffield as part of the Freelands Foundation Programme for emerging artists
/ORIGIN\FORWARD/SLASH – net art commission – Flat Time House, London
Blue Scampi – Wompspace, Sheffield
2020
FABS Residency at S1 Artspace, Sheffield
Artists Books Now – presentation at The British Library, London
2019
Lates – National Science and Media Museum, Bradford – AI Lit Bot with Found Fiction, Leeds
A Strange Weave of Time and Space II – curated by Jeanine Griffin – Lincoln University
A Strange Weave of Time and Space – curated by Jeanine Griffin – Site Gallery, Sheffield
Interrupteur – Guest Artist for Emma Bolland – Sheffield University
Leeds Writing Festival – Machine Learning mash up/ Lit bot – interactive mini project
International Artists’ Book Fair, The Tetley, Leeds – work in collection
2018
Platform 18 – (Mis) Information – Millenium Galleries
Turn the Page – Norwich – Artists’ Book Fair
International Artists’ Book Fair – featured artist
Luminosity – touring Rural Exhibition – Cumbria with Highlights
Phantom exhibition curated by Jeanine Griffin – Bloc, Sheffield
Background
Coalminer’s daughter from Barnsley
Graduated Newcastle Polytechnic in 1989 – Fine Art
MA Fine Art – Sheffield Hallam University – 2019
Career as educator, teaching in a variety of settings including primary and secondary school, before a return to art practice in 2016
Instagram: @janxhopkins
Contact me